How to Get Hired by a Digital Marketing Agency with No Related Experience on Your Resume
Times are tough. 2020 hasn’t been a great year for many people. There’s a chance you’ve lost your job as a result of the pandemic and a subsequent economic shutdown.
Perhaps, you’re looking to switch gears and start a new career? Might I recommend digital marketing? Let me tell you why:
There are over 13,000 digital marketing agencies in the United States.
All you need is a computer. You can work from anywhere, so these jobs are more quarantine-proof than those in other industries.
Here’s the problem: you’ve never worked in digital marketing before.
No matter how many times you reformat your resume, marketing experience won’t suddenly appear when you export as PDF.
That doesn’t mean you don’t stand a chance to secure a solid job at a digital marketing agency. I work in digital marketing myself, and I’ll be the first to admit, I’m no doctor.
A lengthy, expensive college education and years of residency are not required to find success here.
First, Decide on Your Career Path
Now’s the time to decide what kind of digital marketer you’d like to become.
There are two types: the Specialists and the Jacks-of-All-Trades.
Who are The Specialists?
In the digital marketing industry, there are many different areas of work. For example, there’s web development, graphic design, SEO, social media, advertising, analytics… the list goes on and on.
A specialist is someone who has honed their skills in one of these categories.
An expert graphic designer, a search engine optimization guru, or a lead generation master.
As a Specialist, they have grown their skillsets in one specific area to become an authority on the subject.
Specialists can typically find work at older, more established digital marketing agencies because these agencies have grown so much that they have entire teams dedicated to each service they provide.
Who are the Jacks-of-All-Trades?
As the name suggests, a Jack-of-All-Trades in digital marketing is someone who has knowledge and experience in many areas of the industry.
They know how to create landing pages in Wordpress, they can read and create Google Analytics reports, they can configure an ad campaign on Facebook, and they can design their very own images for use on social media.
Because they have such a wide range of skills, Jacks-of-All-Trades can easily find a home at well-established agencies or those that are only a couple years old.
If a Jack-of-All-Trades has the skills to pay the bills, they can easily find a home at a larger agency because they can choose their favorite area of digital marketing, join a dedicated team, and morph into a Specialist.
Jacks-of-All-Trades are a great fit for newer agencies because they typically have fewer employees. On smaller teams, everyone is expected to wear many hats during the work week. The more areas where you can contribute, the more valuable you are to the business.
Are you a Specialist or Jack-of-All-Trades?
That all depends on you.
If you’ve already got experience building websites, writing copy, managing social media accounts, or analyzing data, you might just be on your way to becoming a Specialist.
If you’ve already got experience in more than one of those skills I listed above, you may want to consider yourself a Jack-of-All-Trades.
If you have no experience at all, it’s time to move on the next section of this article. Trust me, it’s important.
So, what’s next?
You Must Educate Yourself About Digital Marketing
If you can’t answer the question, “What is digital marketing?” in a job interview, then I hope you and I both agree that you probably wouldn’t nab the job.
New to digital marketing? Here’s an incredibly quick summary:
Digital marketing is the component of marketing that utilizes digital technologies like computers, phones, applications, websites, and more to promote products and services.
Sounds kind of obvious, right? It does get a bit more complicated. A better question is, “What do digital marketing agencies actually do?”
A full-service digital marketing agency likely offers the following services to their customers:
- Website Design & Development
- Website Hosting, Maintenance & Management
- Social Media Management
- Graphic Design
- Copywriting
- Facebook & Instagram Ads Management
- Google Search & Display Ads Management
- Search Engine Optimization
- Email Marketing
- Google My Business Management
- Marketing Strategy
- Analytics & Reporting
And that’s not even a complete list, there are many more tools and services that agencies can utilize to help promote and grow their clients’ businesses (Waze Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Photography, etc.).
Of course, not every agency offers the full stack. Some focus entirely on PPC management, SEO, or website design.
To learn more about digital marketing, take some time and read every article you can from the marketing blogs listed below:
- HubSpot.com
- Moz.com
- Yoast.com
- NeilPatel.com
- SEMRush.com
- Ahrefs.com
- Backlinko.com
- SocialMediaExaminer.com
- Buffer.com
- Wordstream.com
Of course, it’s not enough to know about digital marketing. You have to have proof that you know about the subject.
How to Become a Digital Marketing Expert
If you’ve made it this far, that means you’re curious about the real steps you can take to land a job at a digital marketing agency with no prior related work experience.
Are you ready? Here we go.
Complete Free Digital Marketing Certifications
One of the best ways to develop your skills is to enroll in free (yes, free!) digital marketing courses online.
You’ll learn way more about the industry than you would by just reading articles or watching videos, and potential employers will appreciate the dedication to your career advancement (which is just a fancy way of saying they look great on a resume!)
Here are the best 100% free digital marketing certifications:
Google Skillshop
The Google Skillshop is an amazing place to learn a boatload about digital marketing.
They have courses and certifications for many tools that nearly every agency in the world uses:
- Google Search Ads
- Google Display Ads
- Google My Business
- Google Analytics
Visit the Google Skillshop to get started.
HubSpot Certifications
HubSpot is a major leader in the world of digital marketing. Their customer relationship management platform is one the most popular out there.
I highly recommend their Inbound courses and certifications because they give a great overview of how digital marketers build their strategies.
CodeAcademy
You’d wow your interviewer if you showed up with knowledge of HTML and CSS, two incredibly popular coding languages that are used to create and style content on Wordpress websites.
Did you know that Wordpress powers over 75 million websites?
I can guarantee that the agencies where you would apply manage at least a few Wordpress websites for their customers.
SEMRush Academy
SEMRush is a huge name in the world of search engine optimization. If you want to learn more about how to get websites onto the first page of search results, check out their free courses and certifications.
What to learn even more about SEO? Check out the knowledge bases on Moz.com and Yoast.com (I highly recommend reading their articles).
Facebook Blueprint
You’ll find everything you need to know about creating and managing Facebook Ads campaigns in Facebook Blueprint.
They have dozens of free courses, so what are you waiting for?
Twitter Flight Academy
Become an expert on the management and optimization of advertising on Twitter. #tweet
Ok, You’ve Completed Several Certifications. What Now?
Now that you’ve beefed up that big brain of yours and padded the bottom of your resume with these highly relevant and educational digital marketing certifications, you may be wondering, what’s next?
Create a Portfolio to Showcase Your Talents
A potential employer will definitely appreciate the fact that you’ve taken the time to complete those certifications, but that’s not going to be enough to set you apart from your competition.
Remember, this article is all about getting hired at a digital marketing agency without any prior related job experience.
It might seem like a Catch-22, but you, the person with no prior experience, need to demonstrate that you can actually DO digital marketing.
Without any prior related work experience, the best way to strut your stuff is create a portfolio.
Here are a few examples:
- Photography website: If you want to get hired as a photographer, create a website that features your absolute best work. Then, pull up that website during the interview and let your potential employer take a look. This is your chance to show off your eye and your ability to professionally edit photos.
- Graphic design website: Using free graphic design tools like Figma or Canva, build a repertoire of sleek designs. You can create fake social media posts, movie posters, or even album covers.
- Start a blog: You can start a blog for free on Medium.com (hey, wait a minute…), Wordpress.com. This is a great option for writers who think they have a knack for writing copy that converts customers. Not sure what to write? Peruse the agency websites where you’re likely to apply. Check out the blogs they’ve written and the case studies they’ve posted. You can mimic the content they are posting to prove that you can write in a way that’s valuable to them. If they have a case study up that’s showing off the work they’ve done for an HVAC company, then you can write a blog that would fit perfectly on an HVAC website.
- Build a website: If you’re interested in becoming a website developer, you need some real-world experience. Unfortunately, that can cost some money. It doesn’t have to completely break the bank, though. You can find domains for around $10 and some website hosting companies only charge about $3/month.
What are you still reading this for? It’s time to get started.
It is nearly time we say goodbye. But first, a quick recap.
To start your journey of securing a job at a digital marketing agency with no prior related work experience, follow these steps:
1. Evaluate Your Skills — Are You a Specialist or a Jack-of-All-Trades?
Write down what you know already and what you’d like to learn. Decide what kind of digital marketing you’d like to become. This will guide you through the next steps.
2. Get Certified!
Take your time and try to truly absorb the information you gain while completing these courses and certifications. They’re useless if you don’t pay attention or cheat your way through.
3. Build a Portfolio
Find a way to demonstrate your skills during an interview. If you can wow your potential employer with your design abilities, your own website, or something else, you have a much greater chance of getting hired.
